


I Got a 9/10 on This Essay and I Named It Mr. Squishy

by Katsala



Category: High School Musical (Movies)
Genre: Essays, F/M, M/M, Not In-Universe, Peer Pressure, Queerbaiting, conformity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2017-02-19
Packaged: 2018-09-25 16:23:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9829220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katsala/pseuds/Katsala
Summary: An essay on conformity I wrote for class that is apparently good, so I'm testing the waters, as it were. NOT in-universe.





	

  
Conformity. Conformity. Con-form-ity. In its most basic form, conformity can be defined as doing something not because you want to do it, but because other people want you to do it. Another way of saying someone is conforming is saying they are giving into peer pressure; a phrase we’ve all heard, and all been warned away from. When one wants a prime example of peer pressure, one has to look no further than Disney Channel original movies.

  
High School Musical is known for its love story, which mirrors Romeo and Juliet, and for its catchier-than-a-virus music. A dramatization of real high school life, it isn’t afraid to shove the peer pressure metaphor down the viewer’s throat, most prevalently with the song “Stick To the Status Quo.” Jason wants to bake (pastries), Martha wants to dance, and skater boy wants to play the cello. Sadly, “If you wanna be cool, follow one simple rule, don’t mess with the flow-ow-ow, stick to the status quo.” They are literally being told by everyone that they can’t do the things they enjoy because their friends think it’s weird. Troy and Gabriella can’t be together because she’s a nerd, he’s a jock, and neither of those cliques are allowed to sing. By the end of the movie, though, after forcing Troy and Gabriella to be miserable, everyone realises they were being unreasonable and lets them be in the play together. Everything ends happily ever after… until the next movie, where these lessons are promptly forgotten.

  
But for High School Musical 2, it’s much more fun to focus on the meta aspects, because this is where the gay subtext comes in. Ryan Evans is gay. Anyone who has watched any of the movies (ignoring the third one, we don’t talk about the third one) can see that. He’s a theater guy. He sings love songs with his sister and nobody finds a problem with this, so presumably the characters can see it too. The subplot of the second movie is Ryan trying to convince the other students to participate in the talent show, and to do that he goes straight for their second in command, because Troy is busy. That second in command is Chad. Chad doesn’t dance, according to the song “I Don’t Dance,” in which he can be quoted as saying “I don’t dance,” and Ryan can be quotes as saying “I’ll show you how I swing.” Over the course of the song, Ryan beats Chad at baseball and convinces Chad that you can like guys, I mean dance and sing, and still be good at sports. Then they switch clothes. It is so obvious what the writers wanted their relationship to be. Either that or they fumbled like no one has ever fumbled before. But they relented to precedence, to the pressure of organizations like One Million Moms, and left them friends. Then, in the third movie, their “friendship” is entirely deleted in favor of giving Kelsey and Taylor boyfriends, because heaven forbid the girls be single.

  
Yet conformity isn’t always a bad thing. Way back in the first movie, Gabriella and Troy meet at a party when they are forced to sing karaoke together. Troy doesn’t want to because he’s still a mindless jock at that point, and Gabriella doesn’t want to because she’s shy, but they give in and do it, and in the process they untap their hidden passions for music and each other. Sometimes, giving in and going with the flow can lead you to something you really love, even if it doesn’t seem like it at the time.

Unless it’s murder. Don’t give in to murder.


End file.
